Tube-cutting machine.



G. W. BBADLE.

TUBE CUTTING MACHINE.

APPLIGATIQN FILED NOV. 22, 1909.

Patented Dec. 10, 1912.

6 SHEETS-SHEET l.

r O A r n 0 0 n I m Q 1 M M m M m G. W. BEADLB.

TUBE CUTTING MACHINE.

APPLIOATION FILED NOV. 22, 1909.

1,046,723., Patented Dec. 10, 1912.

6 SHEETSSHEET Z.

G. W. BEADLE.

TUBE CUTTING MACHINE. APPLIGATION FILED NOV. 22, 1909. 1,046,723. 7 v Patented Dec. 10, 1912 6 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

g I m 5 uad 1 505 lj GMT-gluten E G. W. BEADLE.

TUBE CUTTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 22, 1909. I 1,046,723 Patented Dec. 10, 1912.

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' TUBBCUTTING MACHINE.

APPLIUATION FILED NOV. 22, 1909.-

1 $346,723. Pafiented 'Dec. 10, 1912.

6 SEEETSSHEET 5.

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TUBE CUTTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 22, 1909.

R T m 0 m me n Du luv a P lll lT A p FIQE GEORGE W. BEAIDLE, OF EAST ORANGE, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO WESTINGHOUSE LAMP COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

TUBEeCUTTING. MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 10, 1912.

Application filed November 22. 1909. Serial No. 529,334.

T 0 all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, GEORGE W. BEADLE,

a citizen of the United States, and a resi-' ering glasstubing, and it has for its object to providea machine of this character by means of which tubing may be expeditiously and accurately severed into any .desired lengths. h

In the manufacture of many articles and particularly of electric incandescent lamps, short pieces of glass tubing are employed in great quantities, and the cutting of long pieces of tubing into the short pieces has heretofore been effected by filing or otherwise scratching the tubing at the point of severance and then subjecting it to transverse strain. However, when tubing, and

particularly the larger sized thereof, is sev-- ered in this manner, it usually does not break in a plane at right angles to its axis, and it often splinters and cracks in a longitudinal direction in addition to breaking very irregularly. Moreover, it is extremely diflicult' to obtain short pieces of tubing of uniform length.

According to the present invention, tubing may be severed into accurate and uniform lengths with the planes of severance Substantially at right angles to the axis of the tubing, while splintering and all nude sired cracking of the tubing are entirely avoided. Moreover, the severing of the tubing is effected expeditiously, and a large number of tubes may be severed at one time.

Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings is a plan View of a machine embodying, and

.for practising, the present invention, some of the parts-being broken away and others being shown in section for the sake of clearness of illustration. Fig. 2 is a view in elevation and in vertical section of the ma chine shown in Fig. 1, the vertical section being along the line II--II of Fig. 1. Fig.

is a plan view of the main part of the frame or stationary member of the machine.

Fig. 4 is a plan view and Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional view of a movable and adjustable stop of the machine. Fig. 6 is a vertical,

view of certain of the parts of the machine,

showing their movements. Fig.'l4.- is a side view and Fig. 15 is a plan view of the ,clutch for retaining the tubes in the carrier, a portion of one of the parts being broken away in Fig. 14 for the sake of clearness of illustration.

The machine comprises a main frame member 1 and an auxiliary frame member 2 (Figs. 6 and 7) that is supported above the main frame member by means of posts 3. The main frame member 1 is provided with a bearing at for a driving shaft upon which are mounted idler and driving pulleys5 and 6, respectively, and .a bevel gear 7 that meshes with another bevel gear 8 upon the lower end of a vertical shaft 9. Lateral or' suitable binder. One of the especially desirable characteristics of the abrasion Wheel is that it will createa large amount of heat when it is rapidly rotated and a glass tube is held in engagement therewith, the heat being a very useful element in cracking the glass.

The auxiliary frame member 2 is of annular shape, and is provided, upon its upper face, with radial recesses 13, whichdetermine the positions of laterally slotted guide members 14 that are suitably secured to. the

auxiliary frame member. Operating between, and guided by, the guidemembers 14 are tube carriers 15 (Figs. 10, 11 and 12), having lateral projections 15 extending into lateral slots in the guide members 14, and

steady ,the tubes as cation,

vertically extending slots the inner ends of which are of V-shape. i

Extending upwardly from the tube carriers are rods 16 that carry a set of inwardly extending slotted lates 17 the slots inwhich correspond to, an are directly above, the slots in the corresponding carriers,the said rods and the plates serving to en they are fe into the carriers 15 The carriers 15 are provided with horizontal apertures in which rods 18 (Figs. 14 and 15); are mounted for reciprothe inner ends of the rods being rccessed for the reception of pistons 19 that are resiliently pressed outwardly by means of springs 20 and that carry, at their outer ends, V-shaped gripping members 22, be-

tween which and the V-shaped inner ends ofthe slots in the carriers the tubing tofbe severed is held. a

Mounted upon the meshes with a worm gear w eel 24 upon a shaft 25, located in bearings which are integral with the lower face of the main frame member 1, and upon the other end of which a worm pinion 27 is mounted. The worm pinion 27 "meshes with aworm gear wheel 28, upon the lower end of a short vertical shaft 29, for which a bearing 30 is' provided upon one side of the main frame member 1, and upon the upper end of which a crank 31 1s mounted. The crank 31 is connected, by

means of a link 32. to a wheel shaped reciprocating member 34 (Figs. 8 and-,9) that is I carried by the main frame member '1 upon tube carriers 15, which links serve to impart the reciprocatory rotarymotion of the mem bers 34 to the radially movable tube caratstep bearing 35.

Secured directly upon the annular portion of the reciprocating member-34 is an annular member 36, having radial slots 37 in its upper face, corresponding to each of the tube carriers, in which radially adjustable members 38 and 39, respectively, are mount-.

ed and adapted to operate, the members 38 and 39 carrying pins 40 and 41, respectively, at their inner ends. Clamped between the members 34 and 36 is another annular member '43 havingslots into which the pins 40 project, the said slots being inclined to the radii that intersect the same. .The pins 40 are connected, by means of links 44, to the riers 15.

lvlounted directly above the member 36 is another annular member'or ring 45 that serves as a guide for still another annular member 46 having slots, into which the pins 41 project, that are inclined to the radii intersecting the same. The pins 41 are conuected by means of links 47 to the rods 18, and serve to transmit the rotary reciprocating motion of the member 34, and of the other members carried thereby. to the rod port and lower extremity of the verticalshaft 9 is a 'worm. pinion 23, that 18. The pins 40 and'41 and the slots in the fiiembers .43 and 46 are at different distances from-the axis of-the shaft 9, which is the center of the machine, and the links 44 are longer than the links 47 The result of this is that the throw or travel of the rods 18 is greater than that of the tube carriers and the movements of the clutches are 15 mdre rapid than the movements of the tube cairicrs,'particularly during'the first portionsof the movements of'the said members inwardly. Thus, the clutches serve to grip thetubes-"firmly before they are pressed against the abrasion wheel.

The limits of travel of. the tube carriersand of the clutch members may be regulated independently .of' one another by eifecting circumferential adjustment of the members 43 and 46, such circumferential adjustment being effected by means of levers 50 and 51 that operate toothed segments 52' and 53,

respeiitiyely, th'atmesh with toothed; per-- tions of the peripheries of the members 43 and 46. By reason of the inclination of the slots therein, circumferential adjustment of the members 43 and 46 effects radial adjustment of the positions of the pins 40 and 41, which determine the positions of the limits of travel, respectively, of the rod 18 and the tubecarrier 15.

- Themember34 is provided, upon one side, with an inwardly extending arm 54 that is connected at its inner end by means of a rod 55 to a wheel-shaped stop member56 (Figs. 4 and 5) having radial slots 57 in; its annular portion corresponding, respec-' tively, tothe slots in the tube carriers, the arm 54 serving to effect reciprocation of the stop, member 56 simultaneously with the member 34. The stopmember 56 is provided' with a bearing upon the central portion on the main frame 1, andmay be adjusted vertically thereof by means of a hand wheel 57 that is screw-threaded upon the radial slots therein, which .are out of allu 'ment with the slots in the carrierswhen the clutches vare released, so as, to permit of insert-ion of tubes in the carriers. The machine is started after it isfed with tubes, and the members 22 immediately grip and hold the tubes in the carriers, and then the its , traveling around the tubing in' both direc- .tions from the ends of the-notches until it meets and causes cracking of the tubing.

"The tubing becomes heated in a circumferential line extending through the notch much sooner and to a higher degree than in any other direction, with the result that the crack occurs in a plane substantially at rightangles to the axis of the tube, and there is practically no tendency for lateral or other undesired cracking. Moreover, it is unnecessary to subject the tubing to lateral strain in order to complete the fracture. After the severance of the tubing, the carriersrecede from the abrasion member, and the clutches are released to permit the tubes to drop again upon the stop member-56, which has been rotated, during receding of the carrier and release of the clutch, until the portions between .the slots therein are brought into alinement with the slots in the carrier. The operation then continues as above set forth.

I claim as my invention;

1. The method of severing glass tubing which consists in abrading the same upon one side only at the point of severance until the heat produced by the abrasion travels around the tubing and causes it to crack.

2 The method off-severing glass tubing which consists in abrading the same upon one side only at the point of severance at such a rate as to produce heat which travels around the tubing and causes it to crack.

3. A tube severing machine comprising a movable abrasion member, a 'reciprocatory member, a reciprocatory tube carrier actuated by the reciprocatory member toward and away from theabrasion member. a clutch for retaining the tubes in the carrier and also actuated by the reciprocatorymember, and a stop actuated by the reciprocatory member and movable thereby into and out of alinement with the tube carrier.

4. A tube severing machine comprising a movable abrasion member, la reciprocatory' momber, a reciprocatory tube carrier actuatcd by the reciprocatory member toward and away from the abrasion member, a clutch for retaining the tubes in the carrier and also actuated by the reciprocatory member, a stop actuated by the reciprocatory member and movable thereby into and out of alinement with the tube carrier, and means for adjusting the travel of the tube carrier. v

5. A tube severing machine comprising a movable abrasion member, a reciprocatory' member, a reciprocatory tube carrier actuated by the reciprocatory member toward ber, a stop actuated by the reciprocatory member and movable thereby into and out of alinement .witli the' tube carrier, and means for adjusting the travel of the tube carrier and of the clutch, respectively.

6. A tube machine comprising a abrasion member, a reciprocatory I ember, a recipro'catory tube carrier actuated by the reci'procatory member toward and away fromthe abrasion member, a clutch for retaining the tubes in the carrier and also actuated by the reciprocatory member, a stop actuated by the reciprocatory member and movable thereby into and out of alinement with the tube carrier, and means for adjusting the distance of the stop from the abrasion member.

7. A tube severing machine comprisinga movable abrasion member, a reciprocatory member, a reciprocatory tube carrier act-uated by the reciprocatory member toward and away from the abrasion member, and a clutch for retaining tubes in the carrier and also actuated by the reciprocatory member.

8. A tube severing machine comprising a rotatable abrasion member, annular recip- Eliot/able rocatory members having slots inclined to intersecting radii passing through them, radially adjustable members having pins extending respectively into the slots of the annular reciprocatory members, a reciprocatory tube carrier, a clutch for retaining the tubes in the carrier, and links connecting the tube carrier and the clutch, respectively,

to the said pins.

9. A tube severing machlne comprising a rotatable abrasion member, a reclprocatory member, annular members carried thereby having slots inclined to intersecting radii, adjustable members having pins projecting, respectively, into the slots in the annular members, means for adjusting the annular members with respect to the reciprocatory member, a reciprocatory' tube carrier, a clutch for retaining tubes in the carrier, and

clutch, respectively, to the said pins. 1

10. A tube severing machine comprising arotatable abrasion member, reciprocatory annular members having slots inclined to intersecting radii, the slot in one of sand annular members being at a greater distance from the center thereof than the slot in the other member, radially adjustable members having pins, projecting respectively into the links connecting the tube carrier and the I slots in the annular members, a reciprocatory tube carrier, a clutch for retaining tubes in the carrier, and links connecting the tube carrier and the clutch, respectively, to the said pins.

11. A tube severing machine comprising a rotatable abrasion member, reciprocatory and circumfercntially adjustable annular members having slots at different distances from their centers which are inclined to intersecting radii, radially adjustable members having pins projecting, respectively, into the slots in the annular members, a reciprocatorytube carrier, a clutch for retainmg tubes 1n the carrier, and links of different lengths for 1b vember, 1909.

GEORGE W. BEADLE. Witnesses:

F. H. MCSORLEY, B. S.'KARCHNER.

Copier of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

